DETROIT — Without a win, perhaps Calvin Johnson’s 329-yard receiving day — the second best in NFL history — wouldn’t have meant as much.

Without his yardage, clutch plays and touchdown catch, the Lions would not have come back in the fourth quarter for a 31-30 win over the Dallas Cowboys.

It was a Sunday that was Calvin Johnson super-sized.

“He’s the greatest receiver that i’ve ever played with, that i’ve ever seen,’’ running back Reggie Bush said. “I think that pretty much sums it up.’’

Advertisement

Always humble, Johnson didn’t have too much to say about his unbelievable day.
“It’s crazy you know, shoot, we got one-on-one coverage,’’ Johnson said. “I don’t know what our percentages were we were able to hit on a lot of deep passes, intermediate, we were all over the place.’’

The Lions finished with 623 yards of offense — 356 more than the Cowboys.

“He’s unbelievable we all know that, we see it week in and week out,’’ quarterback Matthew Stafford said. “He’s a self-less player, a guy that works his tail off to sometimes get ready to play. He catches the ball however many times today and gets hit all the time .... He made some big-time catches at some big-time moments.’’

Johnson’s touchdown catch late in the first quarter put the Lions up 7-0.
He was double-covered on that one. Of course he was.

“Going up and catching that ball on the first play, Calvin Johnson on a safety is as good of a match-up you’re going to get. The guy goes up and makes a freak-show catch. He does it all the time,’’ Stafford said.

But the quarterback was far from done.

“The best thing about that dude is how humble he is, how much of a team player he is, i can’t express it enough to you guys,’’ Stafford said. “... He’s a heck of a teammate and everybody respects the heck out of him.’’

Here’s a look at Calvin Johnson’s afternoon:

— With those 329 yards he set a Lions’ franchise record for a single game, breaking the previous record by Cloyce Box (302 yards) on Oct. 27, 1950 — 63 years to the day.

— Johnson finished just seven yards shy of the all-time record set by Los Angeles Rams WR Flipper Anderson vs. New Orleans on Nov. 26, 1989.

— Since Anderson had just 296 yards in regulation (with 40 more in overtime), Johnson had the most in NFL history during a regulation game.

— Johnson, aka Megatron, is just the fifth player in NFL history to record 300 yards in a game.

— Among his 14 receptions, Johnson recorded catches of (order of longest) 87, 54, 29, 26, 22 and 21.

— He now holds five of the Lions’ top-seven single game best in terms of receiving yards.

Keep in mind that Johnson has been struggling with a knee injury for weeks. He misses an occasional practice and also is limited often in practice.

Coach Jim Schwartz needs a new dictionary to find superlatives for Johnson.

When the coach was asked after the game about Johnson’s performance, he had just one thing to say: “Just wait until he’s 100 percent.’’

About the Author

Paula Pasche is a longtime sports writer for The Oakland Press and blogs at http://oplions.blogspot.com/. Author of book, "100 Things Lions Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die." Follow on Tout and Twitter @paulapasche. Reach the author at paula.pasche@oakpress.com
or follow Paula on Twitter: @PaulaPasche.